Semi-antique Baluch prayer rug from Afghanistan. 137x90 cms

A deep red semi-antique Baluch prayer rug with an unusual feature — please read on…

Typically, the field of a Baluch prayer rug features a different motif from the main field in the two areas on either side of the prayer niche, or mihrab. In this example, however, the weaver chose to repeat the lozenge motif from the main field on either side of the bottle-shaped niche.

To accommodate the pattern within the narrower spaces, she skilfully reduced its scale while carefully maintaining its original shape and proportions.

The rug is in excellent condition, with a full pile and exceptionally soft, lustrous wool of the highest quality. The original kilim finishes are still preserved at both ends, retaining an important detail of the rug’s original construction.

Material: 100% hand-spun sheep wool

Size: 137×90 cms

Origin: Baluch tribe, Afghanistan

Date of weaving: 1960

The Baluch

The Beluch or Baluch are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in India, Turkmenistan and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Mihrab

This word refers to the niche in mosques that indicates the direction of the Kaaba, toward which believers must prostrate themselves. This might suggest that the symbol of the same name is an Islamic creation. Adapted to weaving, it characterizes prayer kilims and rugs, which believers lay out on a clean surface, taking care to orient the pointed end of the mihrab toward Mecca. There are also multi-niche prayer kilims, called saf, intended for collective practices.

However, we favor the hypothesis that the mihrab predates Islam and symbolizes the sacred mountain, a concept present in all mythologies. The various representations of the motif would then be progressive adaptations influenced by contact with new cultures.

A Protective Motif with Exorcising Power

Inaccessible peaks have always stirred the imagination with their majesty—and, when volcanic, with their activity.

Identifying the mihrab with the sacred mountain leads us to classify this motif among protective symbols with exorcising power, as well as among those symbolizing fertility. Yet we cannot rule out the possibility that the mihrab is a product of later beliefs, which would give woven textiles bearing this motif a cultic or religious function.

“Symbolique des kilims”, Ahmet Diler